Dana-Farber To Address Pediatric Cancer

The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is leading the launch of the IGNITE Consortium, the first national pediatric hematology oncology health equity research consortium. This initiative aims to eradicate inequities for children, adolescents, and young adults diagnosed with cancer or blood disorders.

The IGNITE Consortium consists of pediatric oncology experts from 12 leading institutions across the U.S., with Dana-Farber being the lead site, that has resulted from the urgent need for a research infrastructure dedicated to eradicating disparities in pediatric cancer outcomes.

In addition to Dana-Farber, the other consortium members are from UC San Diego, Columbia U, Childrens Hospital LA, Seattle Children's Hospital, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, Yale School of Medicine, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, UCSF, Benioff Children's Hospitals, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Recent data has highlighted that children from low income households are more likely to experience cancer relapse and face lower survival rates as compared to their more privileged peers, despite receiving treatment when on highly standardized clinical trials at top academic centers.

These inequities are rooted in social drivers of health such as food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of transportation. and affect families disproportionately in poverty plus those from historically marginalized racial and ethnic communities, and as a result, contribute to significant disparities in cancer outcomes.

The IGNITE Consortium is taking part in two collaborative research protocols. The first study will focus on socio-demographic data collection, by aiming to understand the unmet social needs of children with newly diagnosed or relapsed cancer. The second study will test a new supportive care intervention tailored for low income families with the goal to improve survival, and psychosocial outcomes.

Kira Bona, MD, MPH, Pediatric Oncologist at the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorder Center and Founding Member of the IGNITE Consortium, sums up by saying, "We're building the infrastructure necessary to address inequities in order to be able to change the landscape of pediatric cancer care for the better."